Red Sea Coast : Suez Canal

The strategically located Suez Canal is a miracle of 19th-century engineering, but strategically located engineering miracles aren’t that much fun for the average tour-1 ist. The canal stretches, without locks and at a depth of up to 15m, from Port Said on the Mediterranean, past Ismailiya, to Suez on the Red Sea (112km all told). Construe-tion began in 1859 under the direction of Ferdinand de Lesseps, and the canal opened 10 years later. The waterway allowed rapid travel from Europe to the Indian Ocean, and became a crucial element in the infrastructure of the British Empire.

The canal was nationalized by Nasser in 1956, precipitating a Rritish-French-Israeli invasion. In 1967, with Israeli troops on the Sinai side of the canal, Nasser blocked-it with sunken ships. It remained closed through the 1973 war. While the waterway was closed, monstrous ships too big to pass through the canal were built to travel around Africa. Upon its reopening, the canal’s clientele never fully returned; canal cities have never fully recovered.

The Suez Canal’s business is business, not tourism; Port Said, Ismailiya, and Suez live oft” ships of commerce. Located near a former international flashpoint, all three cities have suffered heavy war damage. The only evident reconstruction is IsmaiH-ya’s newly paved streets and manicured parks. In a nation as rich with sights as Egypt, this region ranks low on a traveler’s itinerary.